


Incidential

by zarabithia



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Mercy Killing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-01
Updated: 2007-10-01
Packaged: 2019-05-21 16:04:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14918508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: The plan was always that Batman would stop Clark, if it ever came down to it. Batman gave it his best shot.





	Incidential

Diana never believed this day would come.

Perhaps she should have. Perhaps she should have known that a possibility her two dearest friends had worried over so strongly was not a concern to be ignored.  If she had been a better teammate, she too would have worked alongside Clark and Bruce as they made precautions and hatched contingency plans to stall what had become an inevitable fate. 

Years ago, on an island that Diana has not called home in some time, she had been taught that a warrior prepared herself to meet any challenge that might block her way.

As she struggles to force herself back up off the ground, pain rips through her abdomen so intensely that Diana can feel the her gut wound behind her eyes. The smell of the charred flesh of fallen teammates surrounds her, mocking her failure, and predicting the fate of the all too mortal man currently in Superman's grasp.

Diana can see his body, through her hazy vision, twisting like the kite string Donna's son had loved, in the years before that family had been taken away from her.  Too many bones are broken for Diana to reach Bruce in time to save him.  By the time she regains her composure enough to stand and fight anew, his neck is broken.  It's an act that mirrors her own fateful decision with Maxwell Lord so strongly that if Diana hadn't been an Amazon,  it might have broken her stride.

The same type of arrogance that has allowed Diana to neglect the full magnitude of her duties, the one that made her certain that she and her teammates would be able to stop a rogue Superman when the time came, is the very same type of arrogance that prompts Superman to not pay the type of attention he should to the last act of defiance - the last act of _friendship_ \- Batman demonstrates.

But the time for Diana's arrogance is over. She pays attention. She sees.

She catches the small lead box that drops from Batman's hand.

As with Maxwell Lord, Diana shows neither mercy nor hesitation.

She is conscious of the fact that none of her friends will survive to question her decision this time.

***

He's been prisoner in his own mind, unable to stop the parasite controlling him as unspeakable acts and unforgivable betrayals were committed in his name.

When Diana puts an end to what he could not, Clark can only hope that the "thank you" is audible enough for her to understand it.

***


End file.
